Justice Department reading legal challenge to Texas abortion ban

The Biden Justice Department is readying legal action to challenge the restrictive Texas abortion law, a department official tells CNN.

The official would not say on what basis the lawsuit would be based upon, but department lawyers have been challenged to find a potential legal recourse.

A formal announcement is expected as soon as Thursday.

DOJ has been exploring legal avenues for challenging the six-week abortion ban in Texas after the US Supreme Court last week declined a request by clinics to block the law from going into effect.

The Texas law was designed specifically with the goal of making it more difficult for clinics to obtain federal court orders blocking enforcement of the law. Instead of creating criminal penalties for abortions conducted after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the Texas Legislature has tasked private citizens with enforcing the law by bringing private litigation against clinics -- and anyone else who assists a woman in obtaining an abortion after six weeks.

Since the law went into effect, clinics across Texas have stopped offering abortions after six weeks, or have shuttered altogether.

In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court majority wrote that while the clinics had raised "serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law," they had not met a burden that would allow the court to block it at this time due to "complex" and "novel" procedural questions.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday had pledged to protect abortion clinics in Texas by enforcing a federal law that prohibits making threats against patients seeking reproductive health services and obstructing clinic entrances.

"The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack," Garland said. "We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act."

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Biden administration's preparations to sue.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Florida judge allows mask mandates to continue in schools after ruling against DeSantis

Second Circuit Judge John Cooper has ruled against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appeal, allowing Florida schools to continue to have mask mandates while the case is appealed at a higher level.

Effective immediately, the state of Florida must stop their enforcement of a mask ban, which ends sanctions against several school districts who have implemented mask mandates.

DeSantis had appealed Cooper’s earlier ruling that that stated the governor overreached and did not have the authority to ban school districts from implementing mask mandates without a parent opt-out.

That appeal led to an immediate pause on mask mandates while a ruling was made. Thirteen Florida school districts have now implemented a mask mandate, without a parent opt out, defying an earlier executive order by the governor.

Cooper ruled he believed there was not enough irreparable harm to set aside the automatic stay triggered by the appeal.

 while a ruling was made. Thirteen Florida school districts have now implemented a mask mandate, without a parent opt out, defying an earlier executive order by the governor.

Cooper ruled he believed there was not enough irreparable harm to set aside the automatic stay triggered by the appeal.

“It’s undisputed that in Florida we are in the midst of a COVID pandemic. Based on the evidence I’ve heard, there’s no harm to the state if the stay is set aside,” Cooper said. 

Cooper added that based on expert witnesses it is clear the only way to protect children who are unable to be vaccinated is to keep children isolated home, which would cause additional harm. 

“It's undisputed that the Delta variant is far more infectious than the prior to their prior version of the virus, and that children are more susceptible to the Delta variant than to the form from a year ago,” Cooper said. “In particular for children under 12, they cannot be vaccinated. Therefore, there's really only one or two means to protect them against the virus as either stay at home, or mask.” 

Cooper added that based on the evidence young students “arguably have no way to avoid this, except to stay home and isolate themselves.”

“I think everybody agrees, that's not good for them,” Cooper said.

Tokyo Olympics: Sifan Hassan wins 5,000m gold, Simone Biles to return, cycling starts

 Sifan Hassan won the women's 5,000m gold to seal the first part of her attempt at an unprecedented Olympic treble and Simone Biles' gymnastics return was announced on day 10 in Tokyo.

Dutchwoman Hassan surged away on the last lap to win in 14 minutes 36.79 seconds and her victory came just hours after she had recovered from a slip in the heats for the 1500m, an event in which she is chasing a medal along with the 10,000m.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn had earlier won an emotional first athletics gold for Puerto Rico, while Kenya's 37-year stranglehold on the men's 3,000m steeplechase came to an end with gold for Morocco's Soufiane el Bakkali.

There was also an upset in the women's football where world champions the United States lost 1-0 to Canada in the semi-finals.

China took the first title in the track cycling at the velodrome, where - after so many days of empty areas - there were fans in attendance. A 50% capacity of up to 1,800 is allowed as the venue is outside Tokyo, where stricter Covid-19 rules apply.

They witnessed a bizarre crash when Australian Alexander Porter's handlebars suddenly snapped off, throwing him forwards at speed on to the floor, with the rider escaping largely unhurt.

There was a malfunction of a different kind in the shooting, where Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish was distracted by the button on his jacket undoing and fired at a rival's target instead.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard made Olympic history, becoming the first openly transgender athlete to compete at a Games in a different gender category to the one in which they were born.

Hubbard, however, failed to record a successful lift in the women's +87kg weightlifting.

Hassan shines and Puerto Rico celebrate first athletics gold

It was a wet evening at the Olympic stadium, where the discus final and pole vault qualifying were paused during torrential rain, but it did not stop Hassan as she sat back in the pack before launching a last-lap burst to take a convincing gold in the 5,000m.

That is the only event of the three she has entered where she is not the reigning world champion.

She was fortunate to recover earlier in the day after falling during the 1500m heats, saying she had been tired from her exploits after she got up quickly to overtake several athletes to win the heat.

"Without coffee I would never be Olympic champion. I needed all the caffeine!" she said.

Earlier in the day, Puerto Rico won their first ever track and field gold as Camacho-Quinn cruised to victory in the women's 100m hurdles.

The 24-year-old is only the second athlete from the US territory to win an Olympic gold medal, after Monica Puig in the women's tennis singles in 2016.

Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou provided another first - his country's first gold in the event - sealing the title with his final attempt of 8.41m having been outside the medal positions before that. Juan Miguel Echevarria took silver and fellow Cuban Maykel Masso got bronze.

But there was disappointment for Jamaica's 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson, who failed to reach the women's 200m semi-finals after finishing fourth in her heat having eased up metres before the line, and for South Africa's defending 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk, who was eliminated in the semi-finals of his event.

And there was a surprise in the men's 3,000m steeplechase where Kenya, who were going for their 10th title in a row, could only win bronze as El Bakkali - who was fourth at Rio 2016 - surged in the final lap to win in 8:08.90 ahead of Ethiopian Lamecha Girma.

In the women's discus, American Valarie Allman won gold with an effort of 68.98m.

Nanjing: New virus outbreak worst since Wuhan, say Chinese state media

 A Covid outbreak first discovered in the Chinese city of Nanjing has spread to five provinces and Beijing, with state media calling it the most extensive contagion after Wuhan.

Almost 200 people have been infected since the virus was first detected at the city's busy airport on 20 July.

All flights from Nanjing airport will be suspended until 11 August, according to local media.

Officials also began city-wide testing amid criticism for their "failure".

All 9.3 million of the city's residents - including those visiting - will be tested, said state-controlled Xinhua news.

Posts on social media show long lines of people queuing, and authorities have reportedly urged people to wear masks, stand one metre apart and avoid talking while they wait.

Officials said the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus was behind the infections, adding that cases had spread further because of how busy the airport is.

Ding Jie, a health official in Nanjing, told reporters the cases were linked to cleaners who worked on a flight from Russia that arrived in the city on 10 July.

The cleaners did not follow strict hygiene measures, Xinhua News reported.

The airport management has been rebuked, with a senior disciplinary body of the Communist Party saying it had "problems such as lack of supervision and unprofessional management".

Testing has shown that the virus has now spread to at least 13 cities including Chengdu and the capital Beijing.

However, experts quoted by the Global Times said they believed the outbreak was still at an early stage and could be controlled.

Local officials in Nanjing said that seven of those infected were in critical condition.

The new spike in cases has led some on Chinese social media to speculate about whether the Chinese vaccines were working against the Delta variant.

It is unclear if those infected were vaccinated.

A number of South East Asian countries relying on Chinese vaccines have recently announced they will use other jabs.

China has so far managed to keep the virus largely under control by closing borders and moving quickly to stamp out local outbreaks.

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist

 Leonardo Notarbartolo strolls into the prison visiting room trailing a guard as if the guy were his personal assistant. The other convicts in this eastern Belgian prison turn to look.

Notarbartolo nods and smiles faintly, the laugh lines crinkling around his blue eyes. Though he's an inmate and wears the requisite white prisoner jacket, Notarbartolo radiates a sunny Italian charm. A silver Rolex peeks out from under his cuff, and a vertical strip of white soul patch drops down from his lower lip like an exclamation mark.

In February 2003, Notarbartolo was arrested for heading a ring of Italian thieves. They were accused of breaking into a vault two floors beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and making off with at least $100 million worth of loose diamonds, gold, jewelry, and other spoils. The vault was thought to be impenetrable. It was protected by 10 layers of security, including infrared heat detectors, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, and a lock with 100 million possible combinations. The robbery was called the heist of the century, and even now the police can't explain exactly how it was done.

The loot was never found, but based on circumstantial evidence, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years. He has always denied having anything to do with the crime and has refused to discuss his case with journalists, preferring to remain silent for the past six years.

Until now.

Notarbartolo sits down across from me at one of the visiting room's two dozen small rectangular tables. He has an intimidating reputation. The Italian anti-Mafia police contend he is tied to the Sicilian mob, that his cousin was tapped to be the next capo dei capi—the head of the entire organization. Notarbartolo intends to set the record straight. He puts his hands on the table. He has had six years to think about what he is about to say.

"I may be a thief and a liar," he says in beguiling Italian-accented French. "But I am going to tell you a true story." 

IT WAS FEBRUARY 16, 2003 — a clear, frozen Sunday evening in Belgium. Notarbartolo took the E19 motorway out of Antwerp. In the passenger seat, a man known as Speedy fidgeted nervously, damp with sweat. Notarbartolo punched it, and his rented Peugeot 307 sped south toward Brussels. They hadn't slept in two days.

Speedy scanned the traffic behind them in the side-view mirror and maintained a tense silence. Notarbartolo had worked with him for 30 years—they were childhood buddies—but he knew that his friend had a habit of coming apart at the end of a job. The others on the team hadn't wanted Speedy in on this one—they said he was a liability. Notarbartolo could see their point, but out of loyalty, he defended his friend. Speedy could handle it, he said.

And he had. They had executed the plan perfectly: no alarms, no police, no problems. The heist wouldn't be discovered until guards checked the vault on Monday morning. The rest of the team was already driving back to Italy with the gems. They'd rendezvous outside Milan to divvy it all up. There was no reason to worry. Notarbartolo and Speedy just had to burn the incriminating evidence sitting in a garbage bag in the backseat.

They were accused of breaking into the Antwerp Diamond Center’s supersecure vault and stealing $100 million in diamonds, gold and jewelry. The loot was never found, but their trash was.

Notarbartolo pulled off the highway and turned onto a dirt road that led into a dense thicket. The spot wasn't visible from the highway, though the headlights of passing cars fractured through the trees. Notarbartolo told Speedy to stay put and got out to scout the area.

He passed a rusty, dilapidated gate that looked like it hadn't been touched since the Second World War. It was hard to see in the dark, but the spot seemed abandoned. He decided to burn the stuff near a shed beside a small pond and headed back to the car.

When he got there, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Speedy had lost it. The contents of the garbage bag was strewn amongst the trees. Speedy was stomping through the mud, hurling paper into the underbrush. Spools of videotape clung to the branches like streamers on a Christmas tree. Israeli and Indian currency skittered past a half-eaten salami sandwich. The mud around the car was flecked with dozens of tiny, glittering diamonds. It would take hours to gather everything up and burn it.

"I think someone's coming," Speedy said, looking panicked.

Notarbartolo glared at him. The forest was quiet except for the occasional sound of a car or truck on the highway. It was even possible to hear the faint gurgling of a small stream. Speedy was breathing fast and shallow—the man was clearly in the midst of a full-blown panic attack.

"Get back in the car," Notarbartolo ordered. They were leaving. Nobody would ever find the stuff here.

The job was done.

Qatar 2022: Norway rules out boycotting football world cup

 Delegates at extraordinary congress called by the Norwegian Football Federation vote for motion rejecting boycott of the event.

Norway’s football federation has ruled out boycotting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite pressure from its grassroots over accusations of human rights abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf state.

At an extraordinary congress called by the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) on Sunday, 368 delegates voted for a motion rejecting a boycott while 121 were in favor.

In the run-up to the vote, Ole Kristian Sandvik, spokesman of the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA), said the matches in Qatar will “unfortunately be like playing on a cemetery”, a term commonly used by opponents of Norway’s participation.

Norway has not qualified for a major international competition since Euro 2000 and is currently fourth in its World Cup qualifying group.

So although qualification seems an uphill task, the result of the vote could have had an impact on whether Norway continued to play qualifying matches.

The movement calling for a boycott began when the Tromso IL club spoke out in February.